Hungama Mobile ties up with UAE business enterprise Koohiji Group
South Asia’s premier mobile entertainment company Hungama Mobile and the Dubai-based diversified business enterprise Koohiji Group have formed a business alliance to provide Middle East and North African (MENA) wireless consumers access to a wide range of legitimate entertainment content. Users will be able to download the latest Bollywood songs from legitimate music and entertainment sources for personal use on their handsets.
As per the agreement, Hungama Mobile has appointed Digital City, a new strategic business unit established by the Koohiji Group, as their exclusive distributor for Bollywood and Indian digital entertainment content.
Describing the alliance as a significant step in the new media era, Mr. Saleem Mobhani, Chief Operating Officer of Hungama Mobile said, “The demand for Bollywood and related entertainment content has shot up dramatically over the last couple years, and Hungama Mobile being the world’s largest distributor of South Asian entertainment content, MENA consumers will have access to over all South Asian digital entertainment content, including content in 14 different languages”.
“We are continually working to forge strategic relationships with key digital entertainment players. We develop and deploy content across the spectrum of Music, Images, Video, Games and Applications for our current relationship with 52 Operators and Partners in over 20 countries such as North America, UK and Europe, South Africa, Australia, Germany, South East Asia etc. and Digital Entities such as iTunes, Napster, Yahoo and others to extend Hungama Mobile’s presence in new media entertainment globally.” said Ali Hussein, Head of Hungama Mobile for MENA.
Speaking on the occasion SS Rajkumar, vice chairman and CEO of the Koohiji said, “So far, users in the UAE and in the region have been deprived of choices, up-to-date and easy access to Indian entertainment content for their mobile devices. As exclusive content distributors for Hungama Mobile, Digital City will bridge that gap and serve as a one stop shop for all content resellers and mobile operators offering digital mobile entertainment across the UAE and MENA region”.
For Hungama Mobile, the tie up with Koohiji Group is yet another milestone following the recent tie up with the Apple Inc-promoted iTunes, where the music of the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Don was made available worldwide on the iTunes Music Store. The tie up further establishes Hungama Mobile’s growing bandwidth in helping the Indian entertainment industry reach out to the global audience.
About UAE and the Indian Entertainment Industry
Indian entertainment industry, particularly Indian films have always had unprecedented success in the Middle East, especially the UAE. While the economic boom in the region has been primarily led by growing oil exports, countries across the Gulf have, over the years, increased focus on industrial diversification. In UAE, of the 26 percent GDP growth last year, more than 60 percent was non-oil based, and 50 percent came from the service sector including media and entertainment services. The growing interest in Indian entertainment industry also drove the UAE government to host the IIFA Awards in Dubai earlier this year. The annual Dubai International Film Festival which began in 2004 also provides a strong platform to the Indian Entertainment Industry to showcase its boundless talents and expertise in the field of film making.
About Koohiji Group
The Dubai based Koohiji Group began operations in 1985 by as a trading house dealing in consumer electronics and communication products. Over time, Koohiji Group has emerged as an efficient marketing operation with a diverse portfolio of products including telecommunication & office automation products, wireless communication products HVACR equipment and auto spare parts. At present, the Koohiji Group runs its operations under four strategic business units – Komtell LLC (Telecommunication), Globalnet LLC (Wireless Communication Products), Technocare LLC (Customer Care), and Royal Gulf LLC (Air-conditioning). Digital City, the exclusive content distributors for Hungama Mobile is the fifth strategic business unit of the rapidly expanding group.
About Hungama Mobile
Hungama Mobile, the largest aggregator, publisher and developers of Indian Entertainment Content globally, deals directly with various movie production houses and music labels for digital promotions of their content. The company has an exclusive agreement with Super Cassettes Industries Ltd, Sony Pictures Television International and other production houses that form an integral part of the content catalogue which currently have over 100,000 songs, 25,000 Images and 15,000 Video titles. Hungama Mobile delivers innovative content such as Meet and Greet with Celebrities, movie merchandise, and movie tickets to drive content consumption for their partners. Hungama Mobile is the first ever organization to offer a movie zone on a Mobile handset. They are also the first to stream an entire movie on a wireless network and are the only Indian company to deals directly with Apple I-tunes. Key achievements include being the only Indian company to be nominated for three International awards in the ‘Best Music’, ‘Best Mobile Entertainment Marketing’ and ‘Best Mobile Marketing Service Provider’.
About Digital City
A part of the Dubai based Koohiji Group; Digital City will address the growing demand for digital entertainment content and serve as a one stop shop which meets the needs of all mobile operators and content re-sellers across the MENA region. Digital City will offer a diverse range of digital entertainment content including Arabic, Hollywood, Bollywood, Indian, Pakistani, Philippines, Persian, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and African content to suit the preferences of all users across the MENA region.
Source- http://www.agencyfaqs.com
Technorati : Hungama Mobile, Mobile, South Asia
Ice Rocket : Hungama Mobile, Mobile, South Asia
Africa’s mobile success story
The mobile phone has been a great success story in Africa. But is that about the mobile phone, or Africa?
In Kenya, where five million of the 35-million population has a mobile phone, the Minister for Information and Communications, Mutahi Kagwe, has declared that IT will be the future driver of economic growth.
For a country based on an agrarian economy – 80% still live off the land – that is ambitious.
While Kenya does have a growing BPO industry, the IT sector also needs skills, a cheap and reliable power supply and a good investment environment in order to grow.
If Kagwe can spend his term in office securing those, then Kenya is on the way to enjoying the fruits of the IT industry.
The massive take-up of cellular in sub-Sarahan Africa has been an important economic and social breakthrough for the continent. It’s worth exploring the reasons for it. The first thing that has to be said is it is hardly a surprise to those who have followed the mobile industry. Wherever cellular has gone, it has been hugely popular and financially successful.
In Africa, the first ingredient has been the woeful performance of the government PTT in rolling out fixed-line infrastructure, which created huge unmet demand for telephony.
Milch cow
Governments in developing countries tend to see the main telco as a milch cow. They love taxing the profits, and the telcos love leveraging monopoly rents in the form of high IDD charges.
Figures for 2004 show Mauritius and South Africa as the only nations in sub-Sahara Africa to have a fixed-line penetration of 10%. Virtually all of the others were below 1%.
The second reason is that cellular is self-financing. Banks are willing to lend for network buildouts and operators can repay these loans revenue earned from airtime fees. That happens because mobile is a by now a well-established industry with its own eco-system that enables services to be delivered at affordable prices.
Even more important is the cost of handsets. The bigger handset players enjoy massive economies of scale. Nokia has shipped more than 100 million units of its entry-level 1100 phone, almost all in developing markets; a record surely for any electronic device. Terminals now can be bought for less than $30.
The next element is competition. Once spectrum is allocated, the cellular business is naturally a competitive one, which keeps prices down and innovation up.
The final aspect is the role of the government. It is telling that in Somalia, with no government, was one of the first countries in Africa to have a competitive cellular market.
PwC, in a report for the GSM Association, calculates that another 25 million more users in sub-Saharan Africa would have a mobile phone but for poor regulation. That’s another $900 million missing from the GDP of those economies.
Typical examples of rent-seeking measures include the interconnection fee paid to the incumbent, which is often hiked, and import fees imposed on base stations and handsets.
Whether any African nation becomes an IT power is largely up to itself.
But the best thing Mutahi Kagwe and his counterparts can do is remove all the taxes and penalties on telecoms and IT businesses. Then they will find ICT firms actually wanting to invest in their markets.
Source- http://www.telecomasia.net/article.php?ty
MTN on World Cup
MTN Swaziland CEO Themba Khumalo has indicated that they are investigating and exploring possible means to capture the excitement of the 2010 World Cup and to ensure that the nation is part of that excitement.
Recently, MTN South Africa announced a lucrative sponsorship of the World Cup and has become the first company to sponsor the global event.
Approached
Speaking during the sponsorship launch of the MTN Premier League yesterday, Khumalo said as they approached 2010, the world was looking at southern Africa because the next World Cup would be staged by neighbouring South Africa.
He said the country would be one of the many getting attention from the world since ‘we are neighbours with the host country’.
Quality
“I wish that while they look at the quality of our game, we are not found wanting.
We hope we will come up with positive strategy and see our customers and the nation capturing the excitement of the global show piece,” he said.
Khumalo stated that they had a solid relationship with sport across the African continent and now even at FIFA level.
Exclusive
“We are working tirelessly to secure exclusive rights to have all games in the mobile phones,” he said.
He said the huge commitment in the sport in the country shows their willingness to see the country participating competitively in the World Cup.
He also promised that they would bring excitement to fans by improving their services to have things like pictures and videos of the games while playing.
He noted that MTN had exclusive rights to the broadcast of matches on cellphones.
Source- http://www.observer.org.sz
Technorati : MTN, Mobile, South Africa
Ice Rocket : MTN, Mobile, South Africa
Mobile TV in South Africa, Taiwan and Australia
South African mobile operator MTN is in talks with Naspers’ MultiChoice pay-TV business to provide television on mobile phones by 2010…which is when South Africa is due to host the soccer World Cup, so there’s a great deal of incentive to get that going. “Vodacom, MTN’s main rival in South Africa, has also expressed interest in pay-TV via mobile phone once the technology is ready, but was not on the list of 18 applicants for pay-TV licenses issued by the regulator this month…MTN, Vodacom and third-ranked Cell C all tested the mobile TV technology during this year’s soccer World Cup but have yet to launch commercially.”
-Competition for licenses for mobile TV in Taiwan are apparently heating up, with at least five consortiums competing for the country’s first handheld-TV test-broadcasting contract. “The National Communications Commission (NCC) will determine winners and issue licenses of the test broadcasting within a month beginning Sept. 18, when it stopped receiving bidding applications…NCC will issue six licenses islandwide to services sharing a total number of three channels-channel 35, 36 and 53.” Apparently the TV broadcasters are the most interested, although there is a warning that they’d “better team up with cellular providers since the providers’ island-wide network coverage would help them broadcast mobile TV programs across the island”.
-Mobile TV could fail because of greedy content owners or high spectrum costs, according to Broadcast Australia, which has been running the DVB-H trial there for about a year. The things which could derail the service are basically those which could drive up the cost of providing it…
Source- http://www.moconews.net
Technorati : Australia, Mobile, Mobile TV, South Africa, Taiwan
Ice Rocket : Australia, Mobile, Mobile TV, South Africa, Taiwan
POGO announces launch of world-first mobile phone file sharing software
POGO has launched a world-first in mobile phone file sharing platform.
POGO, a South African based company, developed the software and is looking to benefit from the growing demand for mobile phone applications in the youth market. The application entered the market in May 2006 after several months of development and testing.
“The software application brings Internet based peer-to-peer technology to the mobile phone. This is the first commercially successful application of file sharing software in the wireless market,” said Jaysen du Plessis, managing director of POGO.
POGO allows users to share ringtones, music, games, videos and themes. The application also allows users to send messages at 1c per SMS as well as access classifieds, body weight calculator and car performance facilities.
POGO is downloadable to all GPRS and 3G mobile phones that are Java and WAP (wireless application protocol) enabled. The application is compatible with all phone types.
POGO carries a once-off download fee and is accessed by sending the POGO keyword to the shortcode 4 20 30. This premium rate service is charged at R30. POGO does not bill for any further use of the file sharing facility and users pay only for the airtime to access the Internet.
According to Jaysen du Plessis, additional content will become available as more and more users join the POGO mobile peer-to-peer community.
“We are expecting a rapid uptake of POGO as users become aware of the benefits of sharing content with their mobile phones. The youth market is particular open to innovative means for accessing new content. Their demand for mobile content will drive the uptake of POGO in the market,” said Jaysen du Plessis.
Source- http://www.w2forum.com
Technorati : Mobile, POGO, South Africa
Ice Rocket : Mobile, POGO, South Africa
Mobile industry in Africa satisfying key consumer needs
While Western mobile companies scratch their heads about how to replicate or adapt the widespread adoption of mobile data services in Japan and Korea, Africa provides another example of how people respond to a great need not new technology. Currently WIZZIT Bank is providing a mobile banking initiative to fulfil the needs of the 14 million South Africans who have no proper access to banks or other financial services. Analysts estimate that up to 60% of the 22 million mobile phone owners would be without bank accounts or easy access to money transfer systems and that WIZZIT would provide these mobile consumers with a significant benefit in becoming economic citizens.
WIZZIT is essentially a new bank that provides its customers with the ability to carry out transfers, pay standing orders, top-up mobile phone credit and take out money. Security is via the usual four digit codes used by other banks and they have relationships with other banking chains allowing you to still do things the usual way. They already have what they call a “cult following” and have set up accounts for farmers to allow the mto send money home or to other family members much more easily.
This kind of banking operation has been made illegal in England and, looking at some of the details more carefully, it is clear that WIZZIT is, if anything, not a business model to follow in all its details, even if it suits the needs of its current target market. First of all, the bank carries out no credit checks, something obviously impossible for some of the citizens who have no credit to check. It takes only 2 minutes to set up an account and the service is also available to schoolchildren, which makes it universal and, to Western minds, inherently suspicious. Uniquely, WIZZIT has a policy to only employ unemployed people and uses them as salespeople to demonstrate and spread their knowledge of the service. You’d be hard pressed to find many people who could have faith in a bank in England or America who followed a similar policy.
It remains to be seen if this service can remain popular and secure but it fundamentally fulfils a glaring need for its customers. It is also just another example of how Africans in general are some of the highest users of WAP technology to access the internet, in particular using their mobiles to access world news sites such as the BBC. Poor fixed-line networks and the high cost of computers have made internet access far more more appealing on mobiles. Fast adoption of 3G Networks and the effciency of cellular network companies as opposed to the government-run telecoms companies have made WAP an internet standard in Nigeria and South Africa.
Again this model is unrepeatable in its details, given the high development and penetration of broadband in Western companies, whcih effectively raised the bar for mobile phones and cannibalised the potenital market. What is noticeable is that in both cases mobile phones have fulfilled needs otherwise uncatered for or under-provided through other media (Banking and News-provision respectively). It is this aspect of recognising useful gaps in the market that needs to be worked on by operators in developed economies, where data aservices are more likely to enhance or improve existing habits and behaviours rather than create new needs.
Once networks provide this kind of longed for service to their customers they are likely to see increased goodwill and loyalty that has previously eluded them. As an unlikely example of this relationship developing, witness the woman in Sierra Leone who named her new-born son “Celtel” after the local mobile operator that allowed her to contact a midwife in time to deliver her baby. Admittedly, this is unlikely to happen in Europe (“We’ve decided to call her “Orange”!”) but at least we can get to the stage where we don’t resent or ignore them.
Source- http://www.w2forum.com
Technorati : Africa, Cellular, Wireless
Ice Rocket : Africa, Cellular, Wireless
HSDPA growth continues
This is good news for South African cellular providers who were amoungst the first in the world to back this new technology.
According to GSA, 58 HSDPA-enabled devices have now been launched by 18 suppliers. The majority of these devices are handsets (26 models), ahead of PC cards/embedded modules (24), USb HSDPA modems (4) and wireless routers (4).
Sixteen HSDPA devices are capable of operation at 850 MHz, in support of major 850 MHz HSDPA network deployments in Australia and North America, and potentially in many more markets throughout the Americas, Asia and elsewhere.
Forty-seven HSDPA devices (i.e. 81%, and representing an increase of 28 models in 6 months) also support GSM/EDGE, thus ensuring service continuity and the best user experience of mobile broadband services.
The survey total of 58 devices excludes a rapidly increasing number of notebooks, laptops and tablet PCs with embedded wireless wide area networking (WWAN) capability for HSDPA broadband access.
The survey notes 16 PC products from 8 PC manufacturers, which have been launched mostly in partnership with mobile network operators.
HSDPA is fast becoming a mature technology with South Africa forming one of the 37 countries to offering this service commercially.
A recent related survey by GSA stated that the number of HSDPA networks planned, in deployment or launched has reached 120 in 55 countries, of which 58 are providing commercial services in 37 countries today. GSA forecasts that the number of commercial HSDPA networks world-wide will reach 85 by end 2006.
HSDPA and the local market
The growth of HSDPA worldwide is a good indication of the increasing importance of being able to connect anywhere.
In Africa the evolution of the Internet seems to have slipped quickly to wireless mobile technologies as the infrastructure needed for fixed line connectivity represented a problem for many African nations.
Wireless mobile connectivity in Africa has become the market which has been predicted to dominate.
In South Africa the cellular providers are fast gaining in the data arena on the fixed line provider, Telkom, due to the incumbent’s inability to meet the needs of the South African market place.
The number of fixed lines in South Africa has fallen and to add to this problem Telkom are unable to deliver ADSL services fast enough to potential subscribers.
Many are choosing the easy to install mobile services of the cellular companies as a way to bypass months of waiting for a Telkom ADSL installation.
Telkom have started to improve their service delivery but the process is too slow for many who are now content to stick with the more expensive but better serviced cellular offerings.
Source- http://www.mybroadband.co.za
Technorati : Cellular, Mobile, South Africa
Ice Rocket : Cellular, Mobile, South Africa
Namibia’s MTC mobile firm to build 3G network
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Namibia’s main mobile phone operator, Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC), 34-percent owned by Portugal Telecom, plans to launch third generation services and Siemens will build the network.
Siemens said in a statement late on Monday it had agreed to supply and install a new 3G HSDPA network, which connects customers to high-speed broadband services via their mobile phones.
The statement said the new technology — one of the first 3G networks in sub-Saharan Africa — would give MTC an edge as it girds for the launch of a second mobile operator, Powercom, planned for later this year.
“The installation of a 3G HSDPA network will give MTC a significant technology advantage over its new competitor,” said Siemens, adding it expected the network to be up and running by the end of the year.
MTC’s new rival Powercom is owned by Norway’s Telecom Management Partners, the Namibian energy utility NamPower and several others. It has said it plans to build 3G technology but has yet to announce concrete plans.
Industry analysts and companies are divided over whether 3G technology — which have had mixed success in the West — makes good business sense for the world’s poorest continent, where only a tiny proportion of users will be able to afford the services.
However proponents point out that on a continent with patchy fixed-line services, mobile technology could boost access to broadband Internet access.
South Africa’s Vodacom, owned by Vodafone and Telkom, and MTN have already launched 3G services. Mauritius already has 3G services and networks are being built in Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
Source- http://za.today.reuters.com
Technorati : 3G, MTC, Mobile, Namibia
Ice Rocket : 3G, MTC, Mobile, Namibia
LG’s ‘Chocolate’ mobile phone sales touch 1.7 million units globally
Less than two months since its global launch, LG’s ‘Chocolate’ mobile phone KG800 has emerged as the hot favourite of mobile phone buyers worldwide.
The first of LG Electronics’ Black-Label series, the ‘Chocolate’ phone has reported sales of nearly 1.7 million units globally. In the South Africa itself, retail sales of the KG800 have crossed 64 000 units while sales in other GCC markets are reported to be very healthy.
Mike Sidwell, GSM Sales and marketing Director for LG Electronics said: “The Chocolate phone is for the discerning customer who views mobile phones as a bold fashion statement. We are amazed at the way it has captured the imagination of the consumer and are confident that it will become one of our best selling products ever.”
Sidwell pointed out that the Chocolate phone’s success was a result of a combination of excellent design, clever marketing and a proactive sales strategy. “LG is now positioning its handsets as premium products and this beautiful phone is just the beginning of a worldwide trend. The global launch has been extremely successful and we have already been flooded with additional orders,” he added.
Sidwell then went on to reveal that retailers in South Africa have gone ahead to sign further sales contracts for the phone in anticipation of huge demand.
The LG ‘Chocolate’ KG800 phone is a product of one of LG’s dedicated Design Management Centres, which employ specialists to achieve some of the most stunning phone designs, LG teams work with 120 design firms around the world. The company invested extensively in its design operations in 2005 and has won 41 world design awards so far this year.
Source- http://www.moneyweb.co.za
Technorati : Chocolate, Handsets, LG, Mobile
Ice Rocket : Chocolate, Handsets, LG, Mobile
Tata to buy stake in SA telecom firm
India’s Tata group is picking up a 26% stake in InfraCo, a new South African telecommunication company, a news report said on Tuesday.
InfraCo will offer long-distance telephone services and will build and operate marine telecom infrastructure.
InfraCo will require an investment of about $350-million to launch its operations, of which the Indian business conglomerate will invest $60-million through its international calls provider Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), the Economic Times reported quoting sources.
The South African government has decided to provide $225-million while the remainder will be funded through debt
The deal is the Tata group’s second telecom venture in South Africa.
Last year, VSNL picked up a 26% stake in a secondary network operator telecom which has a licence to provide all telecom services except mobile telephony.
Source- http://www.mg.co.za
Technorati : Mobile, South Africa, Tata, VSNL
Ice Rocket : Mobile, South Africa, Tata, VSNL
